Lakewood – Twelve victories aside, Ralston Valley coach Shane Freehling said this week he saw a lot of things that made him uncomfortable with his Mustangs.
Four days after having some of those deficiencies exposed in a loss to D’Evelyn, the fifth-ranked Mustangs got back to basics in a 6-4 victory Saturday over No. 9 Golden.
The Mustangs got a complete game from pitcher Matt Skipper and enough timely hits to overcome Golden ace Zach Cleveland and forge a three-way tie atop the Class 4A Jefferson County League.
Skipper was shaky at times but cleaned up well at All-Star Park. The towering right-hander struck out 12, walked nine and allowed just four hits, including a three-run home run to Nate Goergen in the bottom of the seventh.
Goergen’s opposite-field blast came with one out.Skipper responded by retiring the next two batters to improve to 6-2 this season.
“It was just digging down deep,” said Skipper, an all-state junior. “I knew what I had to do.”
Said Freehling: “We were going to let him go today. We weren’t going to look at pitch count late in the season … and he was going to finish that game – win, lose or draw.”
The Mustangs improved to 13-3, 7-1 in league, while the Demons lost for the first time this season to 4A competition to dip to 10-8, 7-1.
The Demons left two runners aboard in the first inning and stranded three in the third when Skipper escaped a bases-loaded jam by striking out Luke Valerius and Conner Chapman to end the inning.
Goergen and Tony DeCarlo combined for all four of Golden’s hits.
“Every time they got a guy to second they found that base hit, and we couldn’t get a hit with guys in scoring position,” Demons coach Brad Madden said.
Cleveland threw five innings and took the loss, fanning four and walking five. Skipper was 3-for-4 and Derek Rowe went 2-for-3, drove in two runs with a double in the key fifth inning and scored three runs.
Ralston Valley 011 130 0 – 6 7 1
Golden 001 000 3 – 4 4 2
Ralston Valley – Barban 3b 1-0-0-1, Yost 2b 4-0-0-0, Skipper p 4-0-3-0, McLachlan cr 0-1-0-0, Chritz ss 3-1-0-0, Rowe 1b 3-3-2-2, Hayes cf 3-0-1-1, Patten dh 3-0-1-1, Shopnitz c 0-0-0-0, Knutson c 0-0-0-0, Faherty lf 4-1-0-1, Spirek rf 2-0-0-0. Totals 27-6-7-6.
Golden – Walker rf 0-1-0-0, DeCarlo ss 3-1-2-0, Seery lf 3-0-0-0, Goergen c 3-1-2-3, Cowden cr 0-0-0-0, Scally cr 0-0-0-0, Valerius 3b 4-0-0-0, Chapman 1b 4-0-0-0, Gosda dh 2-0-0-0, Cleveland sp 0-0-0-0, Sayed rp 0-0-0-0, Babkiewich 2b 1-0-0-0, Carbone cf 3-1-0-0. Totals 23-4-4-3.
E – Barban; DeCarlo, Valerius. LOB – Ralston Valley 9, Golden 7. SB – Faherty, Spirek. Caught stealing – Walker, Scally. SAC – Barban, Patten, Spirek; Babkiewich. 2B – Skipper, Rowe. HR – Goergen, two on in seventh.
Batteries – Skipper and Shopnitz, Knutson (6); Cleveland, Sayed (6) and Goergen. W – Skipper (6-2). L – Cleveland. WP – Skipper; Cleveland. PB – Shopnitz; Goergen. T – 2:16.
